The objectives of the proposed research are to expand knowledge and understanding of lipids in cellular membrane systems, an area of intense current biological interest in which much basic information still is lacking. Emphasis is placed on studies of the specific roles of the glycolipids in developing cellular structures and in selected systems under normal conditions and in derangements such as those which accompany tumorigenic cellular transformation and destructive metabolic error. Details will be sought concerning the nature of the interaction of complex lipid molecules with each other and with non-lipid cellular components from the point of view of how these interactions affect metabolic events at the enzyme level and at the level of organelle structuration. It is hoped that the information obtained will be of value in providing points of attack on diseases of the nervous system which involve aberrations of lipid metabolism and related cellular processes, and provide clues to the nature of oncogenic transformation at the cellular membrane level. The information gained will be of help towards an understanding of the modes of action of specialized organelles which notably are rich in specific glycolipids, e.g., the synaptic junctions of vertebrate neurons and the lamellae of the chloroplasts of photosynthetic organisms. These represent the extremes of a select range for the biological materials under study.